345 Seven th Avenue S

uite 1 80 1 N

ew York , NY 10001

Docket Operations U.S. Department ofTranspmiation 1200 New Jersey Ave., S.E

. Washington, D.C

. 20590 Submitted via www.regulations.gov April30 , 2013

Re: Agreement Adopted by the Passenger Services Conference of the International Air Transport Association; Docket DOT-OST-2013-0048
The United States Tour Operators Association (USTOA) 1 urges the Depmiment to consider carefully the Application filed in the above-captioned docket by the lntemational Air Transpmi Association (lATA) for approval ofResolution 787 , Enhanced Airline Distribution.
Resolution 787 establishes a framework for airlines to develop a new electronic data interchange standard, with the objective of enabling "more agile pricing and more personalized offerings. " Resolution at § 1.1. Under this new standard, traveler requests would be sent from third pmiy**channels(~,** tour operators) to airline dynamic shopping engines, with airlines determining "what product offer to retum in the response based on attributes that have been sent in the request." Id. Once implemented , the standard would allow all airline product offers to " be available for distribution through all channels that an airline wishes to sell them through." Id. 2
USTOA takes no position on whether the Depmiment ought to approve or disapprove the Application as presented, require additional evidentiary filings from lATA in suppmi ofthe Application, or impose conditions on any approval. USTOA does , however, respectfully submit that the new standard represents a change to the airline inventory distribution landscape and, as a consequence, raises impmiant issues that merit consideration.
To be clear, USTOA believes that airlines should be free to determine the distribution channels through which to market their products and service offerings and afforded the same operational flexibility enjoyed by most other sectors ofthe economy. 3 However, lATA has not requested that the Resolution be exempted from the U.S. antitrust laws under 49 U.S.C. § 41308 and, as a consequence, the Depmiment must proceed with great care to ensure the new standard will not

1 USTOA's me mbers currently comprise 196 major travel brands and each year serve more than six million

travelers and sell more than $ 11 billion in tour products. Importantly , the new standard s "s hall enable any third party (approved) channel to access aiTline content directly fi·om the carrier." Resolution at§ 1

.2

. 3. USTOA understands that separate Department approval wo uld be required for any future reso lution s regarding standardi zed implementatio n. As IA T A its e lf recogni zes in the Application , "any additional conference agreements on standardi zation of distribution practices would need to be filed with DOT before becoming effective

." Application at 2. As the Department has exp lain ed , "[W]e have consistently read the pro
-competitive policy directives in 49 U.S.C. 40 I 0 I as a llowing each airline the same freedom to choose the channe ls and the terms for distributing its services that firms in other unregu lated indu st rie s enjoy. " Order 99-4-19 at 5.

te l. 212-599-6599, fax. 212-599-6744, i nformation@ustoa

.com www.USTOA.com345 Seventh Avenue Suite 1801 Docket DOT-OST-2013-0048 Page 2 of2

New York, NY 10001 4 substantially reduce or eliminate competition. Indeed , the Department has previously noted its concern " about the implications for competition and consumer welfare of a number of developments in airline marketing and distribution practices, " in the context of evolving distribution technologies. Order 2000-10-8 at n3. Competitive and consumer welfare considerations should be assigned appropriate weight in this proceeding as well.
In particular, the Depmiment should examine whether consumers will be able to obtain price quotes anonymously were the new distribution standards ultimately implemented-as is the case today on the Web sites of airlines as well as their travel agency/tour operator distribution pminers

. Consumers currently visiting such Web sites generally need only provide very limited information, including desired travel dates , city-pair, number ofpassengers , and trip type**(~,** round-trip or one way), with or without additional basic details such as non-stop preference, to obtain immediate (and anonymous) price quotes. Under the Resolution, however, airlines will decide what offers to display based on traveler "attributes" included in shopping requests. Indeed , as set f01ih in the Business Process Description of the Resolution, the authentication and shopping process might include , as pmi of the initial request, data such as the purpose of the**trip(~,** leisure or business), travel history , shopping history and previously purchased services. Resolution at § 3.1.1.1. On the other hand, the Application explains that " anonymous shopping requests will be supported in the new data standard , and the cunent EDIFACT system will be maintained in parallel. " Application at 14.
USTOA hopes that any Depmimental approval ofthe Application will be based on a finding that the new standard will not inhibit or otherwise curtail the ability to anonymously request airline price quotes. Although USTOA believes that airlines should be permitted to provide customized products and service offerings to consumers who voluntarily provide personal information, mandating all consumers to provide personal information simply to obtain an initial price quote would be unnecessary to accomplish the stated objectives ofthe Resolution

. A new distribution standard based on extensible markup language has the potential to benefit airline distribution partners as well as consumers. However, the Department, in acting on the Application , must be guided by 49 U.S.C. § 41309 , which directs the Secretary to determine whether an agreement is adverse to the public interest. USTOA trusts that the Depmiment, in rendering this determination, will give due consideration to the evidence presented by IAT A in supp01i of its Application as well as the extensive public comments submitted in the abovecaptioned docket, and will carefully evaluate of any legitimate competitive and privacy issues raised in this proceeding. Respectfully submitted,

# ~**d--:~~~** Teny Dale President

4 See Application at I (" Antitru st immunity is neither requested nor necessary for th e Resolution

." )

tel. 212-599-6599, fax. 212-599-6744, information@ustoa.com www. USTOA.comUnited States Tour Operators Association
345 Seventh Avenue Suite 1801 New York, NY 10001 CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE
I hereby cettify that I caused a copy of the foregoing letter to be served by first class or priority mail, this the 30th day of April , 2013 , on each of the following persons: Chief, Transpmtation, Energy & Agriculture Section Antitrust Division U.S

. Depmtment of Justice Washington, DC 20530
David Radcliffe Chief Executive Officer Hogg Robinson Group 16 E

. 34 111 Street, 3rei Floor New York, NY 10016
Paul Ruden Senior Vice President of Legal & Industry Affairs American Society of Travel Agents 1101 King Street, Suite 200 Alexandria, VA 22314
Eric Bock Executive VP , Chief Legal Officer & Chief Administrative Officer Travelpmt 300 Galleria Parkway Atlanta, GA 30339
Scott Gutz President and ChiefExecutive Officer Amadeus North America, Inc. 3470 NW 82 11 d Avenue , Suite 1000 Miami , FL 33122
Dara Khosrowshahi President/CEO Expedia, Inc

. 333 108 111 Avenue , NE Bellevue, WA 98004 Pat Funk Executive Director Association ofRetail Travel Agents 4320 North Miller Road Scottsdale , AZ 85251-3606 Grey Webb President Sabre Travel Network 3150 Sabre Drive Southlake, TX 79092 Barney Harford Chief Executive Officer Orbitz Worldwide Inc

. 500 W. Madison Street, Suite 1000 Chicago , IL 60661
Robert L. Darbelnet CEO/President AAA Travel (AAA Inc.) 1000 AAA Drive Heathrow , FL 32746 Douglas Anderson President/CEO Carlson Wagonlit Travel 701 Carlson Parkway Minneapolis, MN 55305 Douglas Lavin Regional Vice President- North An1erica International Air Transport Assoc. 1201 F Street, NW , Suite 650 Washington , DC 20004

tel. 212-599-6599, fax. 212-599-6744, information@ustoa.com www.USTOA.com

# ~USTOA United States Tour Operators Association
345 Sevent h Avenue Suite 1801 New**Yo ~.**  NY 1 f QDL M1chae J. Premo President & CEO Airlines Reporting Corporation 3000 Wilson Boulevard Suite 300 Arlington, VA 22201-3862 Jeffery H. Boyd President /CEO Priceline.com 800 Connecticut Avenue Norwalk, CT 06854
Joop Drechsel Chief Executive Officer BCD Travel 6 Concourse Parkway , Suite 2400 Atlanta, GA 30328
Sam Jain CEO/Chairman Travelong Inc. 212 W. 35 111 Street, Suite 1302 New York, NY 10001
Be1t W. Rein Bruce L. McDonald Counsel to IAT A Wiley Rein LLP 1776 K Street, NW Washington , DC 20006
Michael Batt Chairman/Founder Travel Leaders Group 3033 Campus Drive , Suite W320 Plymouth, MN 55441
No1man Knowles Group VP Loyalty Travel Agency 6442 City West Parkway Eden Prairie , MN 55344 Dean Smith President FCUSA 69 Spring Street Ramsey , NJ 07446
William H. Tech CEO/President Travel and Transpmt Inc

. 2120 S. 72 11 d Street Omaha, NE 68124
Peter Liney Chief Executive Officer STA Travel 750 State Highway 121 , Suite 25 0 Louisville , TX 75067
Gloria Rohan CEO/President Omega World Travel 31 00 Omega Office Park Fairfax , VA 22031 Bryan Leibman President/CEO FROSCH 1 Greenway Plaza, Suite 800 Houston, TX 77046
Priscilla Alexander President Protravel International Inc

. 515 Madison Avenue New York, NY 10022
Brad Tolkin Co-Chairman/CEO JeffTolkin Co-Chairman/CEO World Travel Holdings 100 Fordham Road Wilmington, MA 01887

tel. 212-599-6599, fax. 212 -599-6 744, information @ustoa.com www.USTOA.com345 Sev en th A v

enu e S

uite 1 801 N

ew Y.ork , N Y 1DOOJ

. ll James E. We s Chief Executive Officer World Travel Inc. 1724 West Schuylkill Road Douglassville , PA 19518 Tammy Krings CEO/Leadership Coach TS24 7775 Walton Parkway New Albany, OH 43054
Paul Metselaar Chairman/CEO Ovation Travel Group 71 Fifth Avenue New York, NY 10003
Jeff Smith President Travizon Inc. 275 Mishawum Road , Suite 300 Woburn, MA 01801
Patrick Fragale President /COO Directravel 860 Wyckoff Avenue Mahwah, NJ 07430
Andrea Fischer Newman Sr. Vice President, Government Affairs Alexander Van der Bellen Managing Director, Government Affairs & Associate General Counsel Christopher Walker Regional Director, Governn1ent Affairs Delta Air Lines , Inc. 1212 New York Avenue , NW Washington , DC 20005
Chris Phillips Managing Director

- Distribution Strategy Delta Air Lines , Inc. 1030 Delta Boulevard Atlanta, GA 3 03 20 Yoshimori Himeno President JTB 19700 Mariner Avenue Torrance , CA 90503
Lisa Durocher SVP/General Manager American Express World Financial Center 200 Vesey Street New York, NY 10285
Jonathan Perkel Senior VP , General Counsel Travelocity 3150 Sabre Drive Southlake , TX 76092
Maribeth L. Minella Sr. Vice President & Corporate Counsel World Travel , Inc. 620 Pennsylvania Drive Exton , PA 19341
William Beck Alaska Travel Source 1236 E 72nd Ave Anchorage , AK 99518
Patricia Higginbotham Global Business Travel Association 123 North Pitt Street Alexandria, VA 22314
W. David LeCompte CEO Short' s Travel Management, Inc. 1203 W. Ridgeway Ave. Waterloo , Iowa 50701
David Kelly Executive Director Open Allies for Airfare Transparency 439 New Jersey Ave., SE Washington , DC 20003

te l. 212-599-6599, fax. 212-599-6744, informat ion@us toa.com www. USTOA.com345 Seve nth Avenue Su ite 1 80 1 New York, ['JY 1 0001 Kevm Mitchell Chairman Business Travel Coalition, Inc. 214 Grouse Lane , Suite 210 Radnor, PA 19087
Alexandre Chemla President Altour Intemational Inc

. 1270 Avenue ofthe Americas , 15 111 Floor New York, NY 10020
Alex de Gunten Executive Director Latin American and Caribbean Air Transpmi Association 6355 NW 36 Street, Suite 601 Miami , FL 33166
Robin Reck Director of Communications Travel Tech: The Travel Technology Assoc. 1250 Connecticut Ave., NW Suite 825 Washington, DC 20036
Hans Ollongren Senior Vice President Scandinavian Airlines Systems 19587 Stockholm-Arlanda Kabinvagen 5 SWEDEN
Dr. Elijah Chingosho Secretary General African Airlines Association 2 11 d Floor, AFRAA Bldg. , Red Cross Rd. South C , OffMombasa Road , Nairobi P.O. Box 20116 Nairobi , KENYA Mohamed Bhanj i VIA Rail Canada 3 Place Ville Marie Montreal , H3B 2C9 CANADA
Amold Cheng General Manager, Intemational Affairs Cathay Pacific 9/F , Central Tower Cathay Pacific City , 8 Scenic Road Hong Kong International Airpmi Lantau , HONG KONG
Chris Zweigenthal Chief Executive Airlines Association of Southern Africa P.O. Box 7049 Bonaero Park, 1622 SOUTH AFRICA
Beatrice Lim Director, Industry & Regulatory Affairs Association of Asia Pacific Airlines Unit 27-1 , Level 27 , Menm·a Prestige 1 Jalan Pinang 50450 Kuala Lumpur MALAYSIA
Samuel Podberesky Assistant General Counsel for Aviation Enforcement & Proceedings U.S. Depmiment of Transpmiation 1200 New Jersey Ave. , SE Room W96-322 (C-70) Washington, DC 20590
Paul Gretch Director, Office of International Aviation U.S. Department ofTranspmiation 1200 New Jersey Ave. , SE Washington, DC 20590

gy Murphy tel. 212

-599-6599, fax. 212-599-6744 , information@ustoa.com www.USTOA.com